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Butchered Tech Ch. 2-3: Divergent (Unedited)
🕑 Added 2023-09-02 02:03:29 +0000 UTCButchered Tech
By: Bubbajack
Co-authors/Editors: Icysnowsage, First Hassan
Special consultant: Heliosion
Special thanks go out to my Super Patrons: Alexander Murry, Apostle_of_Darkness, Ben wanless, CrazymanDK, and Jareth Norris.
Ch.2-3: Divergent.
Greg was on his way home from a pleasant evening with two girls when suddenly he felt himself being dragged into his own mind as he heard Flynt say, “Oi kid, we need to talk,”
He quickly found himself in the captain's chair of the enterprise, and the others sitting at various consoles. “Umm guys if I’m in here, who's making sure I’m not collapsing in the street? Also since when could you forcibly bring me here?”
“Not to worry youngling,” Vader assured him, “This ship's console seems to work for…. piloting your own body,” He motioned to the viewing screen that showed things from Gregs point of view as he walked down the street.
“So even if I’m not there it can be controlled… that’s useful but also frightening. I mean you guys could take control of my body anytime you wanted,” He said nervously as he looked at them suspiciously.
“Never fear… as the ‘captain’, so to speak… you have… supreme override authority,” Vader informed him.
Greg sighed, putting his hand over his heart on hearing that, “In other words, my body, my rules.”
The Sith Lord nodded, “Correct,”
Wiping the growing beads of sweat off his brow, the teen said, “Okay. What did you all need to talk to me about?” He paused before guessing, “It's Taylor isn’t it?”
“Your damn right mate. Jaysus! She nearly killed a wain with critters she did. Now, it was fookin amazin’ don’ git me wrong, but still. You gotta be able to stand up to your gal, to be able to keep her on the straight an’ narrow. Otherwise she’ll drag you dun inta the thicket with her.” Flynt told him.
“Your relationship won’t work if you're constantly knowtowing to her,” Vader told him. “You have to be willing to butt heads to argue, to disagree, to not coddle her. Padme never did it with me.”
“Didn’t you kill yer missus? Hurk!” Flynt pointed out only to be telekinetically lifted into the air by his throat, and slowly throttled.
“Whelp partner, since those two’er busy sort’in out their differences, Ah guess I’ll do ma level best ta help ya,” Dell the Engineer said, “A relationship with a woman, is like a man’s with a gun,” Dell explained, bringing up his shotgun as an example. “Wimmenfolk a b-e-a-utiful, to look at but dangerous if you get em riled up. You treat em with the proper respect they deserve to be treated with though and there won’t be no problems. Thing about respect is, sometimes the respectful thing is being blunt an’ harsh with ‘em. You are like the new guy who walked onto a firing range holding his gun sideways and never took a gun safety class,” Dell gave him a deadpan look, “You don’t wanna be that guy do ya?”
Greg shook his head emphatically from side to side, “No definitely not,”
“Good, so what’re you gonna do?” the Engineer asked.
Greg took a breath, “Talk to Taylor?”
“And? Before that?” Engi urged.
Nodding to himself Greg said, “I need to stop coddling her and looking at her through rose-tinted glasses.”
Dell slapped him on the shoulder, “Good man, good man.” He then nudged Vader in the side and stage-whispered, “Ah don’t think we kin die in here partner.”
A static hiss that passed as a sigh for Vader was heard, moments before he said, “So it seems, Mr. Conagher.” He replied before he let Flynt drop to the floor in a heap. Fixing the irish hitman with a glare, Vader said, “Never speak of my wife again,”
“Or else what mate?” Flynt leered back, “Ya just learned you can't kill me.”
“No… but I can prevent you… from indulging in drink… ever again. The Force is capable of many things, keeping bottles out of… your reach is a… parlor trick.” Vader assured him.
“You truly are pure EVIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!!” roared Flynt as he held his bottle of rum close like a newborn baby.
“I am a Sith Lord, what do you… expect?” He then said to Greg, “Speaking of, now that you are done with your dalliances… get to work on that midichlorian counter.”
“Hey!” Greg defended. “Was your marriage with Padme a dalliance?” Seeing Vader cringe, the blonde pressed on, “No? Then you don’t get to say that about my lovelife either. It may be unorthodox, but I love each of these girls for their own separate reasons. Don’t mock my feelings and I won’t mock yours.”
Vader studied the youngling in front of him for a moment before nodding. “Very well, my apologies.”
Greg nodded back, slowly and never letting his eyes leave Vader's hidden by his mask or not. “That’s fine. Now does anyone else have anything to add?”
“Well,” Yahana said, “She seems to be in a right state, more temperamental than an energy pistol and if pushed nuttier than a Big Horner dropping. Now, I’m not saying treat her with kid gloves, but at the very least, keep an eye on her yeah?”
Letting the Courier’s words sink in slowly he hummed to himself, ‘Well, it's not like Taylor is going to go and do something crazy right off the bat like provoke Lung or something utterly moronic like that right? Right. I mean she’s temperamental, not suicidal. I get where she’s coming from though.’ he thought. “I’ll keep an eye on her,” He promised as he glanced at the view screen and noticed they were now in the lair. ‘Good,’ he thought. ‘I need to Tinker for a bit to get my mind of things,’ He then addressed the crew, “If that’s all guys I’m assuming full command again, and next time, ask before you beam me up,”
“There is one more thing,” Vader said, getting his attention at the last second.
Greg raised an eyebrow in response, “Which is?”
The Lord of the sith made his way off the deck. “Follow me, there is something I’d like to show you,”
Intrigued, the teen followed in the former jedi’s footsteps, until they came to a door labeled “Training Room”. The door slid open with a pneumatic hiss of air and inside was standard exercise equipment, but what caught Greg’s eye was the chair. Well, calling it a chair was an insult. It was actually a flash training device used to train the Clone Troops on Kamino… but what the hell was it doing inside his head? Looking at Vader expectantly, the man hissed out a reply.
“I found this… while touring the ship. I can only surmise its presence here is through a mix of both your memories and my own. A coincidence, but a fortuitous one we can use to our utmost advantage.”
“You want me to undergo flash training… in my own head?” Greg questioned. “To what end?”
Vader did his best to give him a sidelong glance. “Were you not just complaining earlier that…you were merely following… instructions? Using this method, you could take our abilities… and make them your own. It would take time… and practice… but you could do it.”
“So what your going to download your abilities into my brain,”
“Six of one half a dozen of another kiddo,” Yahana chimed in from behind him. “You in or not?”
Greg shrugged. “Sure why the hell not? Can I still work on other things outside while I’m doing this?”
The two looked at each other, “You could,” Yahana hedged, “But ya might be a tad distracted like if yer doin’ delicate work.”
“So save it for when I’m sleeping, reading, or doing homework, got it,” Greg understood. “Is making a midichlorian counter considered delicate work?”
The Jedi Killer scoffed. “Child’s play, even on the technological level of your planet. You have something crudely similar already, Used by your police force to test DNA.”
“You mean a DNA sequencer?” Greg guessed.
“Yes. that.”
Greg sighed as he sat in the chair of the Flash Training Machine. “Well then, let’s get to work, what’s first?”
Vader sat down in the seat behind but also directly connected to his, “Proper lightsaber form and technique.”
(...)
Greg came out of his self-imposed fugue state holding a small blood sampling device in his hand. Pricking his finger with it. He waited silently for the results as he switched his blaster-sabers to their saber form and did some quick yet simple jar kai drills. His body worked on muscle memory, and though he was far from being a jedi knight, it showed that the flash training did indeed have some effect. As he’d gone from swinging his weapons around like baseball bats to wielding them with a modicum of actual skill. He now felt like he actually knew how to handle a blade.
Hearing the device beep, Greg checked the number count and was surprised to find he had a midichlorian count of twelve-thousand-five-hundred. ‘That’s good right? Like, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s the range expected of a Jedi Knight.’
“Indeed it is,” Vader affirmed. “Impressive, it shows you have potential at the very least. Now you must hone that potential into skill with practice.”
“Can do. Now, let’s get some other projects started now that we have an omnitool up and running.” Greg said eager to get started on certain things. Like his Astartes transformation. So thinking he had Cawl walk him through the process of… growing the proper organs using his own geneseed as a basis. Jerking off in a test tube wasn’t his proudest fap, but needs must. Soon via making specialized tools, he had the sacred organs of the Emperor’s Angels of Death gestating in preserving and enriching fluids. As he worked on into the night, he proceeded to build an Auto-Doc with Yahana’s help. The Courier assured him that, when the time came to implant the organs, it would not fail.
“If Ah can fix an Auto-Doc and program it to assassinate some asshole who thinks he’s Caesar, I can fix one up to per’form proper surgery, ah reckon. Don’t worry hun, you're in good hands.” She promised him, with a twang in her tone.
It was around four AM when he closed his eyes to get some much needed rest. Today was a school day after all.
(...)
Taylor woke up feeling a bit of pep in her step for the first time in years! ‘I’ve got a boyfriend! I’ve got a boyfriend!’ she cheered in her head. She tried her best to make herself look pretty for once as she got ready for school. Taylor figured since she now had a significant other, she should put some effort into her appearance so as at the very least not to embarrass him. If that rendezvous with Lisa last night had taught her anything, she definitely needed to step her game up in the looks department. ‘What to wear though?’ She thought to herself. ‘How do I look cute for my boyfriend?’ She recalled something he said earlier about how with a bit of extra effort on her part she could look like a goth girl. ‘Hmm, idea?’ She thought to herself. She started looking up pictures and found some of the looks off putting but then she found the gothic lolita style. It was both cute and conservative, if a tad outdated, ‘Who would wear a bonnet in this day and age?’ She thought chuckling a little as she went to work putting a simple but effective outfit together.
It just consisted of a long black dress, some fishnets on her arms, a pair of warm black and white socks, some work boots she wore on the very rare times she visited her dad at work, and a pair of white bows to keep her hair to either side of her head. ‘I wonder if the twintails make me look a tad childish?’ She thought before she shrugged. No one sans Greg, Sparky, and Erik bothered to give her the time of day anyway but she supposed it couldn’t hurt to get another girl’s opinion. So thinking she headed into the bathroom and to the best of her knowledge took her first ever selfie before creating a group chat with both Lisa and Anne and asking “How do I look?” before sending the picture.
The responses were near immediate.
Lisa: Awesome Tay! You're rockin’ that dress!
Ann: My little Taylor, all grown up! I’m so proud! Crying emoji.
Taylor: Thanks you two, I just wanted to be sure I looked nice before heading off to school.
Lisa: Thumbs up!
Anne: Thumbs up Heart eyes… So Lisa was it? Are you a friend of Taylors?
Lisa: Yep we met through Greg, he’s sweet and she’s a doll.
Anne: Ah, wait… you're the other woman?! O-O
Lisa: lol. One of them.
Anne: … Tay… Are you sure you're okay with this?
Taylor: Yes Anne, thanks for being concerned though. We’ve got a working polycule going on right now… don’t tell anyone please!
Anne: O-O… Polycule! I see… I won’t tell, but I definitely wanna talk about this at length soon Tay.
Taylor sighed in relief before she nodded and typed her ascent to the idea, before adding,
“Got to go talk soon. Try not to kill each other while I’m gone,” She then took a breath and headed downstairs, to make some breakfast, glad for once that her dad wasn’t here to see what she was wearing on the way to school. ‘Not that it’s inappropriate or anything, I just don’t have time to play twenty questions,’ she thought to herself.
“Morning Taylor.”
“Morning Dad,” She said distractedly. Before pausing as she was about to pass the kitchen and doing a double take. “Dad?! You're here, and it's in the morning?”
Danny chuckled as he was cooking some eggs on the stove. “Strange I know, but don’t worry, you haven’t stepped into the Twilight Zone.”
“The what? What does this situation have to do with vampiric capes and teen melodrama?”
“Huh?” Danny blinked. “I think we’re talking about two different things, Little Owl. Twilight Zone was a hit show when I was growing up. I have no clue what you're talking about.”
“Ohh… I was talking about Twilight, a sappy novel series about a girl who is torn between two capes who love her and want to turn her with their powers. Into a werewolf or a vampire respectively.”
“Sounds like drivel,” Danny said wrinkling his nose, “Your mom would’ve read it just to riff on it.”
She nodded, “It didn’t stop the fans, flame wars on PHO, or the book sales though…”
“Flame Wars?” her father asked as he put a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her.
“Arguments over who the main girl should end up with,” She explained succinctly. “Thanks dad,” she said, smiling at him.
“For breakfast?” He replied, “No problem.”
Taylor shook her head, “Not that, though that was nice of you, I meant thanks, for being here in the morning… for talking about mom, it… means a lot to me.”
Danny got up from his seat and gave his daughter a hug, which she readily returned. “I’m sorry Little Owl. Losing your mother… It was like losing half of myself. That said, you deserve better from me,” He gave a mirthless chuckle. “That boyfriend of yours sure has some guts,”
“That’s my Greg, no guts no glory,” She said with a bit of pride in her tone.
Danny knew that tone, it was the same one Annete used when talking about him or their daughter to anyone. ‘I’d better get to know Greg Veder better. From the sounds of it, he’s going to be my future son-in-law,’ Danny thought to himself. If Veder were anyone else, Danny would be plotting his death that somehow involved his pipe wrench Brenda, for even daring to think he could date his Little Owl… However, Greg Veder wasn’t just anyone. He was a Tinker who went out of his way to work for a year to replace his wife’s flute pre-trigger, built him and his people tinkertech to assist in their job at cost to himself, and all he wanted in return was his blessing to ask his daughter out. Veder had guts, but he was also old fashioned, something Danny could respect. ‘Lord knows I wasn’t anything like him at my age,’ he thought before he noticed his daughter’s new attire. “Trying to impress a certain someone?”
Standing up, Taylor asked worriedly, “Is it too much?”
Danny laughed a little, “I think if your mother were here, she’d be telling you to put on some black lipstick and eyeshadow to complete the look.”
“That’s not a bad idea actually… but I don’t have any black lipstick,” She said a bit downtrodden. “I do have eyeshadow though. You sure it won’t be too much and I’ll look clownish?”
“You looked fine when you came home wearing some the other day,” Her father pointed out.
Taylor gave a little laugh, “That was Anne, not me.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Danny said, “Try that U-tube thing, its helped me at work a time or two and if it can show me how to fix a busted water main, it can show you how to apply makeup… I do have to ask, your not doing this just to please Greg are you?”
Taylor shook her head, “No, while he did say I could easily pull this look off, he has no idea I’m doing it,” Taylor took a breath, “I’m doing this for me, dad. People have been treating me like crap for long enough. They made me think I was invisible, so I started dressing invisibly. No more. No one gets to decide how Taylor Hebert's life goes except Taylor Hebert… and you, as long as I’m living under your roof.”
Danny clapped his daughter on the shoulders. “That’s my girl, your mom would be so proud of you right now sweetheart,” He picked up her plate, “Head upstairs and do your makeup, and I’ll drive you to school alright?”
She hugged her father for all he was worth, “Thanks dad. I love you.”
He beamed, “I love you too Taylor.” He sighed looking at his wife’s picture as his daughter thundered up the stairs, “We might just be okay after all Annette.”
(...)
Taylor hopped out of her dad’s beat up old truck and hitched her backpack on her back before taking a deep breath. ‘Okay, you can do this Hebert,’ She thought to herself as she faced forward determinedly and headed into the building.
The whispers started up shortly after she entered, but to her surprise, it was about people wondering who the ‘new girl’ was. ‘Seriously? I change my look a little bit and people can even identify me? Should I be offended by that?’ She wondered as she stopped by her locker. Not out of need to get anything out of it of course, she had long since learned to keep everything in her backpack, but she was hoping to chat with her boyfriend a bit before class. Boyfriend, even thinking it made her a bit heady. The fact that she, Taylor 'punching bag’ Hebert had one.
“Mornin’ Hebert,” Erik said, the football player gave her a once over before asking, “Is it prom and I forgot or sumthin?”
“Morning Erik and no, nothing like that, I just thought I should dress up a little nicer now since I have a boyfriend and all…” still concerned, she asked, “What do you think? Is it a bit much?”
Erik gave her two thumbs up, “Ah think you look like the bell of the ball,” he carried on, “But in the end it matters what Veder thinks don’ it? Yer gettin’ all gussied up for him aint’cha?”
She nodded, “That’s true. Is he here yet?”
“Nope I needed to borrow his ear for a bit an’ saw you so I thought I’d wait with ya if that’s alright?”
She smiled and nodded, “That’s fine…” After a couple of minutes of amicable silence she pondered aloud, “Is this what its like to have friends? It’s been so long I’ve almost forgotten.”
Erik ran a hand down his face. “Tarnation Hebert, you're makin’ me wanna throw the Trio into a locker for statements like that.”
Taylor let out an aggrieved sigh, “I appreciate the thought Erik but it's already over and done with.”
“Fine, and for the record, yes you idjit, we’re friends.”
“Fine, good to know… you dumb blonde… she said looking down before daring to glance up and was surprised to see him looking bemused.
He chortled. “Well, well, well! Seems our little wallflower has become a venus flytrap. She’s got fangs now,” He over exaggerated being wounded. “Your words madam, they’ve cut me to the bone!”
Taylor rolled her eyes behind her glasses, “Ham.”
To which the “I prefer sausage but I’ll take what I can git,” Erik shot back immediately.
“What do you need to talk to Greg about anyway?”
Clearing his throat the bigger of the two replied in hush-hush tones, “I need to talk to him about this bug fighting thing,”
Taylor blinked, “You're still going on about that?” She shook her head. If she wanted she could take them all for their money but that would be dishonest… and too easy by half besides.
“Yeah a lot of the guys are into it, hoping to make a bit of side cash, but we need to talk to Sparky cause we’re havin’ trouble finding bugs.”
“Who needs to talk to Sparky?” Greg said coming onto the scene he saw Taylor then did a double take… “Woah… Taylor?” He ogled her for a moment before praising, “You look amazing! What brought this on!?” He grimaced as he asked, “I didn’t forget about a, after school date or something did I?” ‘Did I guys?’ he asked his tenants.
“Nothing on record,” Dr. Halsey said after a moment, “So no, dear, your in the clear,”
‘Thank God, and you too Halsey,’ Greg thought back, releasing a quickly held breath.
“No problem dear,” the scientist replied.
Out in the real world, Taylor shook her head, “No, I just wanted to try something new. Do you really like it?” She asked with tentative hope.
“You look amazing,” He assured her. He wanted to bring up Theo but he didn’t want to dampen her mood right this second, plus there wasn’t enough time to have such a serious discussion before class anyway. Then a plot hatched in his mind. Looking at Erik he said, “You need to talk to Sparky right?”
“Yep, if you can manage it,” Erik asked humbly.
“I’ll send him your way during lunch, I want some time alone with my girl anyway,” Greg replied as he held his hand up for a high-five which he received.
“Nice, whelp, enjoy the honeymoon phase you two,” Erik called behind his shoulder as he walked off.
“Ass!” Greg called back before he turned back to his blushing girlfriend, “What? Did his words get to you that bad?”
Taylor shook her head, causing her twintails to go flying, “No, it's not that! You want to spend lunch alone with me?” She meeped out.
“Yeah…” he just decided to spit it out, “I wanna talk about what happened the other day with Theo privately okay?”
That surprised Taylor, but she nodded resolutely, “Alright,”
Deciding to defuse the tension between them, Greg held out his hand and said, “Now, may I do my official boyfriendly duty and carry your bag milady?”
“You may, my kind sir,” she said as she handed over her bag.
Hefting the bag, Greg joked, “You do your morning run carrying this thing? If so, I can see why you look so good.”
The entomomancer flushed at his praise, “N-No, I-I just run, normal running in yoga pants,” she blabbed.
“Mmm, Taylor in yoga pants… hohohohoh yeah.”
“Greg!” she said, slapping him on the arm as her entire face turned crimson.
“Hey you two bit bitches give it back! C’mon you dirty skanks this isn’t funny!”
The two were drawn out of their moment by the Trio tossing a new target’s backpack back and forth. She was African-american with curly hair tied behind her in a messy ponytail, looking younger than them, and even then Taylor was forced to admit she thought the girl was prettier than her. Yet despite that she wore trashy hookerish clothes of a tube top and daisy dukes, along with sneakers, and her language was just foul.
Yet despite all that, seeing the Trio picking on someone else for a change didn’t make her feel relieved. No, it made her angry. That they could almost ruin her life, her faith in people, and then go right around and keep doing it? ‘No, no!’ Taylor thought as she shook her head, ‘This stops now!’
She moved forward to catch the backpack just as Emma tossed it, but someone beat her to it. That someone being Greg. He glared at the Trio like a pissed off bird of prey, not taking his eyes off any of them as he said, “I would’ve thought the three of you would’ve learned your lesson by now,” His gaze stuck to the three, he lowed the back towards the girl, “Here you go young lady.”
“Thanks… and it's Aisha,” She said, taking her bag.
Still not looking at her Greg said, “Run along to class Aisha, this is between them and me now.”
“Them and us,” Taylor corrected, coming to stand by his side.
“Well look who has a spine when her boyfriend is backing her up,” Sophia mocked.
“Well, look who’s stooped to picking on freshmen,” Taylor shot back just as fast. “Me was one thing Sophia, I could take anything you could dish out, and I proved that, but you leave the freshmen alone.”
Sophia smirked, “Are you volunteering to be my punching bag Hebert? If so, that explains a lot, you masochist. Hell, didn’t know you got off on it girl, you should’ve just said so.”
The crowd that had gathered around them let out a collective ‘ooh’ which Taylor ignored. They didn’t help her before, and they were of no help now. She just scoffed, “No, but you're clearly a sadist. You get off on hurting people don’t you? Tell me Sophie, how wet are your panties right now?”
Sophia’s eyes narrowed dangerously for a moment before she smirked, “Don’t call me Sophie again Hebert.”
Not wanting to press her luck, Taylor said, “I propose we leave each other alone from now on Sophia, and I’d be more than happy to see the back of you forever, but I won’t just stand by and let you bully people like you did me.”
“So you think you're some kinda hero or something like that Hebert?” Sophia scoffed. “You think it's that easy do you?”
Taylor shrugged. “Maybe not, but as someone once said, all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing. No one helped me for the longest time, and you got away with a lot. Too much actually.”
“Oh so I’m the villain here?” Sophia scowled. “Like it's my fault you can’t stand up for yourself. What are you, fuckin’ Bambi?”
Taylor shook her head, “No but all it took for me to stand up was someone offering me a hand, so I’m going to do the same. One person standing up to an asshole like you may not mean much but if two, three, even more people do it? What’re you gonna do Sophie? Take us all on by yourself?” As Taylor spoke Greg, Aisha, Erik and his football friends all rallied either behind or next to her.
Seeing this act of defiance from a sheep like Hebert made Hess clench her fists at her side so hard they almost bled. “Fuck you. Hebert!” She spat out in her rage.
“No thanks,” Taylor replied, “I’m not into girls…” ‘I think,’ she thought. Thinking back to Lisa and how forward she was when joking with Greg and his fantasies involving the three of them yesterday. ‘At the very least I’m very much not into you, you psychopath,’ She knew that with certainty.
Before Sophia could whip up a retort the bell rang signaling the students to disperse like so many flies. Seeing Aisha off with a wave goodbye Taylor thought to herself, ‘Hebert one, Hess zero, for once,’ She was a bit anxious about that ‘talk’ they were due to have at lunch, but that could wait. Right now? She had math class to worry about.
(...)
Taylor was growing more anxious as time went on and lunch grew closer. She was worried That the talk Greg wanted to have would lead to them breaking up or worse. ‘Does he actually hate me for what I did to Theo? Does he think I'm a villain? A monster? Worse?’ All these thoughts were swirling in her head as she approached their usual lunch table in the cafeteria at school.
She found the table empty, sans her boyfriend, Who was sitting there with an easy laid back smile on his face. “Hey, Tay” he greeted, before frowning his brows knitting together in worry as he asked, “Are you all right? You don't look too good?”
I've been getting worried about this talk we're supposed to have all day.” She sheepishly admitted. “Are you going to break up with me now?”
“What? No,” Before getting up and giving her a hug. “I just had a chat with my tenants and realized if we're going to be in a relationship, I can't look at you through rose tinted glasses. I need to be able to stand up to you and tell you when you did something wrong. Otherwise I'm just being a simp, a yes man, and it's a bit one sided, isn't it? Besides, if your boyfriend can't call you out when you've done something wrong, who can?”
Taylor took all his words in and then slowly nodded. “You're right, of course. You usually are,”
“Hey now be careful putting me on that pedestal. I might fall off,” Greg joked back before pulling out a chair for her and offering her a seat.
“Thank you.” Taylor said sweetly as she sat down. She then said, “Oh! Did you remember the brownies?!”
In response, Greg held up a separate bag, “How can I forget a request made when my girlfriend was acting like a little psychopath?”
“I deserved that,” She said as she accepted one, noting it was still a little warm. “Did you just make them this morning?”
“I did,” Greg replied. “When you're a Noctis Cape, you tend to have a lot of time on your hands.”
Taylor spoke in hushed tones. “A Noctis Cape? You never mentioned that?!”
Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, Greg replied, “Uh, oops, My bad?”
Pouting at him cutely, Taylor replied. “I think this calls for another brownie.”
You know you can have as many of those as you want, I don't care.” Greg told her. “Just remember we're going to my place today and sparring with John.”
“Right,” Taylor swallowed her second mouthful of brownie a little roughly. “How harsh do you think it's going to be for me?”
He quickly placated her worries, saying, “Not that bad. He's probably going to set you up with an aerobics routine or something, teach you how to throw a proper punch. Roll with the punch, things like that. Basic stuff. It's how I started out.”
Taylor let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, “Well, that doesn't sound too bad.”
“It's not,” Greg assured her. “After you get the basics down, he'll teach you how to fight, how to use a gun, things like that. The hardest part is learning how to use a gun while fighting.”
“Can you fight and use a gun at the same time?” Taylor asked as she bit into her sandwich.
“I can, but I don't particularly like doing it,” Greg replied, “It's like, If you have a gun, shoot from range. If you're up close, use a knife. Still, it's not a bad skill to learn.”
Taylor hummed in agreement, not wanting to speak with her mouth full. The conversation she'd been dreading was nothing serious at all. ‘I worry too much,’ she thought to herself. Still, her boyfriend had a good point. She should make it up to Theo somehow. ‘But how do I do that When he's terrified of being around me?’ She thought to herself. ‘I'll have to think of something, or this guilt will eat me alive,’ She decided. The only thing that bugged her for the rest of the day was, how?
(...)
As the final school bell rang for the day, Greg and Taylor both headed for Greg's hideout near the docks. They had promised to meet up with Mr. Wick today and begin Taylor’s training. When they arrived, they already found Kayden’s minivan parked in the lot. Greg Held opened the door for Taylor as soon as he got her registered with the bots. They found John running Theo through his paces on a simple, yet effective obstacle course. Currently, the blonde boy was. running as fast as he could through a set of large tires placed on the ground, And he was already covered in a thick layer of sweat.
“Hey, Kayden,” Greg greeted. “Been here long?”
“About thirty minutes,” She replied, rushing up to him and giving him a quick peck on the lips. Turning to the younger girl, she politely greeted, “Hello, Taylor,”
“Hello Mrs. Russell, and again I want to apologize profusely for yesterday,” Taylor said in a contrite tone.
“It's fine. Nobody got hurt. Theo got a little traumatized, but he'll live. We've been trying to get him to trigger for ages, so this is actually a good thing, whether he believes it or not. That said, I do feel a little bad myself, so I'm taking him out to eat after this. I feel that as the only person who can be a maternal figure in his life I should start acting like it”
“Oh, that's nice. Forgive me if this is a bit too forward after what happened, but is that job opening still open?” meekly asked Taylor, though she did wonder if them wanting Theo triggering had to do with him being near Purity or something else involving the Empire.
“Sure Hun, just drop by my office tomorrow or the next day. We'll sort something out,”
Leaving them to talk.Greg jogged up to John and asked “How's he doing?
“Not bad, the kid’s a little out of shape, but I've seen worse. He just needs to lose some fat and put on some muscle. Nothing that can't be done with exercise, training and practice.”
“That's good to hear,” Greg said. “Ready to see if Taylor has the same stuff in her?”
John glanced over where the women were still talking, “ Give me a few minutes, I'm almost done with him. I’ve just about got his baseline down.”
Patting him on the shoulder, Greg said, “Take all the time you need, John, I'll go through my usual warm up with Taylor in the meantime, if that's ok?”
The former hitman nodded, “Good idea you do that,“
Taking that as a sign of dismissal and not wanting to distract his friend and partner. Greg whistled for Taylor and motioned towards the changing rooms. “Did you bring your workout outfit?” He asked.
“It's in my bag,” She replied.
“Go get changed and I'll run you through the basics. Warm up and stuff.”
Taylor nodded. “I'll go grab it, but I'd like to talk to Theo for a second before I do.”
Greg looked over at the boy in question, who just looked like he'd finished the course and looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. “If you're gonna do it. Do it quickly before John gets to him. He doesn't like being interrupted during this,”
“Right,” Taylor said as she hurried over to the panting boy's side, grabbing a water bottle as she went. “Here, drink this. It's good to stay hydrated when you're doing stuff like this,” She said, handing it to him as she stood in front of him.
“T-Thanks,” Theo gasped out as he chugged down half the water bottle in one go.
“Take it easy. Just breathe,” Taylor advised. “I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute, if that's ok?”
“Sure, go ahead,” The younger boy nodded. “I need a minute to catch my breath anyway. This was intense, but not nearly as intense as I was expecting,”
“First off, I'd like to apologize again for yesterday and forcing you to Trigger. Some very nasty people did that to me in school and… I feel terrible Realizing I did the same thing to you. So, to make it up to you, I'm going to do my best to teach you how to use your powers. It shouldn't be too difficult, and that's more than I've had since I had them. Would you be… ok with that?” She looked at the younger boy hopefully, hoping he'd say yes.
Theo hesitated for a moment before finally saying.“Yeah, sure, why not? I mean, I can't change the fact that I finally got these powers that my dad's been doing horrible things to me to get me to trigger forever. Now that I've finally got them, I may as well learn how to use them right? The only good thing is instead of triggering over something bad or scummy happening to me it happened because I was worried about my sister.”
Taylor let out a sigh of relief but knew she had a lot to still make up for, “Right. I'll do the best I can. Teach you what I know, but I'm not sure if your power works the same way as mine. Do you have any kind of multitasking ability at the moment?”
“I have noticed it's easier to do my homework while watching TV these days,” Theo said half under his breath.
Taylor spoke excitedly. She didn't usually get like this, but up until recently, she didn't have friends to get like this around. “So you did inherit some of my powers! I've got unlimited multitasking for controlling small objects, in my case, it’s bugs, but for you it's for those small little explosive motes of light.”
Theo nodded, getting taken in a little bit by her exuberance, “Yeah, that makes sense. So I should be able to control a small swarm of these things?”
“Definitely. If I can control every insect within two city blocks.You should be able to control a small hoard of those things,” Taylor replied.
‘Two city blocks? Just how strong is she?’ Theo wondered to himself. “OK, so I'll try this whole multitasking thing, And add, creating a swarm on top of it. Who knows, maybe I can create like hard light constructs if I get enough of them together.”
“That's not a bad idea, actually.You should try that,” Taylor said aloud, pondering to herself.
“If you two are done geeking out, I'd like to tell the kid his results,” John spoke up drolly from behind the duo.
“Sorry, Mr. Wick.I didn't mean to take up your time,” Taylor apologized.
“It's fine. Go get changed, Hebert,” Wick said as he thumbed behind him to the changing rooms.
She nodded and raced off, calling behind her.“Right. See you later, Theo. And don't forget to try out that Swarm idea.”
“I won't see you, Taylor,” he added. “Oh, and Taylor? I forgive you.”
She spun on her heel, looking shocked for a moment before she smiled the first genuine smile that wasn't directed at Greg or her dad in a long time, before heading to the locker room to get changed.
John looked at Theo, “That was mature of you kid. I don’t think I would be able to forgive someone if they forced me to trigger.”
Theo looked at John and just rubbed the back of his head, “I forgave her more for me than anything else. I don’t want to hold onto that hatred and alienate an ally or one of my few friends. I know it says a lot that a girl that swarmed with bugs is considered a friend, but at least she sees and acknowledges me as Theo and not my dad’s son. I get that a lot from others. It's kind of refreshing. Forgive but don’t forget. I am wary of her. I don’t trust her fully, but I do forgive her. That is the first step anyways. Now what else do I need to do, teach?”
John smirked at the wisdom shown by the kid and chuckled, “Give me two more laps with the tire and you are done for the day. I don’t want to overpush you. That would be detrimental to your growth.”
“Sir yes sir!”
(...)
Taylor came back out wearing yoga pants and a black sports top, Her hair pulled back by a scrunchie. She found Greg just staring at her. “What?” She asked, feeling self-conscious, “Is there something on my face?”
“No, no, not at all!” Greg replied hurriedly. “I just think you look really good in that,”
Taylor felt her self confidence, sore. ‘My boyfriend thinks I'm hot!’ She crowed inside of her own head. Smiling like the cat who got the cream, She told him, flirtatiously. “You can look and maybe even touch, all you want later, lover boy. Right now, you've got to be running me through some exercises, don't you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I do,” Greg agreed. “C’mon.”
He proceeded to run Taylor through the same drills Theo was going through earlier. Ten sets of ten jumping jacks, squats, Push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, And moving as quickly as she could through a tire course. By the time she was done, she was sweating and panting ever so slightly, but it wasn't as bad as Theo was earlier. Still, she happily accepted the water bottle Greg had given her, and drank from it greedily. “That was intense. Do you do this every day?”
“Three days a week,” Greg replied. “Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.” He turned to John, “Did you get her baseline?”
“Yeah, it's better than the kids. But she's in better shape than he is,” John replied just as quickly. “You want to teach her the basics while I teach you some more advanced stuff? Or do you want me to take over her training from here?”
“I can teach her the basics,” Greg said. “Then we can move on to the more advanced stuff together.”
John nodded, accepting his decision. “Sounds good to me. By the way, when did you build a Tinker oven?”
“Last night, I guess?” Greg replied with a little laugh, “ Is there anything else in here I should know about?”
“The new robots,” John pointed over to the far wall. “are streamlined, more vicious. Dangerous.”
Greg looked over to where John was pointing and saw some new machines that he didn't notice before. And sure enough, they looked more streamlined, more humanoid than his other bots.He immediately recognized them as the BX-series Commando Droids from Star Wars. ‘Oh shit, I made commando droids,’ Greg thought to himself. There were a dozen of them, each looked alike, with wiry humanoid frames covered in thick dark metal, with their oblong faces similar to that of an anteater. Their kit included scoped E5 Blaster Rifles, belts of what looked to be thermal detonators, and a vibro-sword. They were all lined up against the wall and not moving, having yet to be turned on.
Greg half heartedly reached for the on switch on them before pulling back. ‘That can wait. Taylor needs me right now,’ he decided. Walking back to her, he said “OK, now you and I are going to go a few rounds,”
“You mean like fight? How is that fair?” She asked.
“It's nothing serious, It's just a spar. I need to know what I need to teach you,” He made a come hither motion with his hand. “So come at me whenever you're ready and don't hold anything back.”
Taylor took a breath before she ran at him, fist raised, and right when she was in striking distance. She lashed out with a kick instead. Greg easily dodged it and said, “Oh, good. At least you're not completely obvious in projecting your moves.”
“Thank you,” She said as she circled around him like a lioness looking for an opening in her prey. She then tried for a flying kick at his back, which he also avoided, this time grabbing her leg and throwing her to the floor.
“Again, not bad. But way too obvious.” Greg chided.
“You don't actually want to hurt me, do you, Greg?” She pouted at him a little bit as she got into a sitting position.
“What? No, of course not… Wait a minute,” He smirked at her. “Clever girl using my own emotions against me. Nice try though,” This time, she pouted for real, prompting him to ask. “Is that it?”
“I've never even been in a real fight before, so yeah, that's…. that's it.”
Greg crossed his arms and looked down at her. “Are you sure there's nothing else you wanna try? Nothing that involves, I don't know, a lot of bugs?”
She blinked up at him out of owlishly in shock, “You want me to use my powers on you? Isn't that a bit extreme for a spar?”
“I told you to come at me with everything you have,” Greg rebutted, “Your powers are a part of everything,” He then added, “You need to get used to using them in a combat situation, and what a better time to do this than in a spar?”
Taylor opened her mouth, closed it, and said.”That makes sense, but I don't want to risk hurting you.You could go into epileptic shock if you get stung too many times,”
“You carry an EpiPen around with you for that exact purpose, don't you?” Seeing her nod, he continued, “Then I don't see the problem,” He helped her to her feet as she said, “This time, come at me and come at me for real.”
“Ok, okay, just give me a moment and let me Whoa!” She dodged a sudden punch from Greg. “Greg, what the hell? I can't summon my swarm if you're going to keep attacking me!” She said as she dodged another blow.
To which he retorted, “Do you think your enemies are going to be polite enough to wait around for you to summon your bugs? You have to be able to do it on the fly, and en mass. So I suggest you get to calling them.”
Taylor sighed through her teeth, hating the fact that she knew her boyfriend was right. ‘I should have kept some bugs on me from the run over here,’ She thought to herself. So now she had to call them manually. Took time only a few seconds, but time was everything in a fight. Though she had a small swarm, and sicked it on Greg like a Rottweiler on a mailman. A black mass of bugs descended on Greg like a thundercloud. Yet Despite that, he was not deterred. He burst through them like a man possessed before striking her in the stomach,the chest and then the jaw. Sending her toppling to the floor, and landing on top of her, and quickly getting her in a chokehold. Before she could command her bugs to do anything. Everything got dark.
She sputtered awake seconds later as water splashed her in the face. “Damn it, I lost, didn't I?”
“Yep. Told you I wasn't worried about your bugs,” Greg replied as he picked her up while picking at some bites that were on his arm, “Still, you did pretty well for yourself for your first fight,”
“Thanks, You hit like a Mack truck,” She complimented.
Greg laughed awkwardly, “Sorry about that. I was taught not to hold back on anyone in a fight that will get you killed.”
“He’s not wrong,” Taylor said as she rubbed her sore jaw.
His eyes immediately became concerned as he saw the girl, he liked, in pain. Greg asked, “You need me to get you some ice for that?”
Taylor waved him off. “No, I'm fine. It's nothing. Just a little sore,” She then giggled, “I'm going to have to explain to my dad how you hit me and you're not being an abusive boyfriend.”
Greg's eyes widened like dinner plates as he imagined Danny Hebert assaulting him with a lascutter for daring to harm his daughter, “Oh God! I didn't think about how Mr.Hebert would think about this! I'll put in a good word for me, right? I don't want to get hit in the kneecaps with a wrench or chopped into bits and thrown into the bay!”
Taylor patted him on the cheek affectionately. “Don't worry, honey, I'll protect you from my dad.”
Greg let out a sigh of relief, “What would I do without you, Taylor?”
“I don't know what would you do without me?” She challenged him.
“Honestly, I probably wouldn’t get out as much. There's a lot of stuff I could be doing here,” He motioned around the shop, “Lots of things to build. Lots of stuff to create. I'd like to think you keep me balanced.”
That earned him a kiss on the cheek. “Likewise. I mean, you keep me balanced too, and I appreciate that,” She said, awkward in her flirtations.
“The droids built a shower in this place if you want to use it,” He told her.
“Are you telling me I worked up a sweat and now I stink, Greg Veder?” She said, giving him a mocking glare.
To which he replied. “Taylor, I think you smell like roses even if you walked through pig shit, I'm just letting you know that there's a shower available if you want to use one.”
“Nice save, Veder. I think I'll take you up on that offer,” She paused. “Though I didn't bring a change of clothes.”
“I can handle that, don't worry,” He assured her. “You're what, a size eight, nine?” he asked.
Taylor rolled her eyes,” Wanting to know my three sizes now? You're such a boy.”
“That's not… I was… I mean,” He sputtered, up until she started laughing and said “You're awful. You know that, right?”
Wiping a tear of laughter away from behind her glasses, Taylor apologized, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I really am. I've just always wanted to use that line,” After a moment, she asked, “So, shower?”
“In the back to the left. Oh, horrible girlfriend of mine who likes to tease her boyfriend,”
Kissing him on the forehead as she got up, Taylor said. “I love you too, Greg,” She was halfway to the shower when she realized what she’d just said. ‘I told him I love him! What if he thinks I'm a weirdo because I said it so soon? But if he wants to break up with me!? What do I do? What should I say? What can I do?’ She went to wash off the sweat, but also her shame.
(...)
By the time Taylor came back from the washroom, Greg greeted her happily, acting like nothing was wrong. “Hey, Tay, is everything alright? You look a little tense for someone who's just taken a shower?”
“I'm fine. It's nothing.” She has, she reassured him, giving an awkward little laugh as she did. ‘Get it together, Hebert.’ She told herself.
“OK, if you're sure,” Greg replied. Not sounding completely convinced. He then carried on saying, “While you were in the shower. I got a text from Lisa. She wants to meet us at the Boardwalk, and she's bringing her friends with her. You wanna go?”
“That sounds like fun. Actually, I kind of am interested in Lisa's roommates.”
Greg grinned and nodded, “Cool. I'll let her know we're coming,”
“But what about your training with Mr. Wick?” Taylor asked.
And response. Greg pointed to a machine that looked like two interconnected chairs. “We've got it covered,” he promised her. “Right, John?”
The hitman who had just pulled nodes off the top of his head, “Yeah sure kid, you might wanna try using that for other things. Like languages and such, it’s damn useful.”
“Working on it.” Greg promised, as he Offered a hand to Taylor. “Ready to go? It'd be rude to keep Lisa and her little friends waiting.”
“Let me just text my dad so he knows we're at the Boardwalk, ok? Then we can go,” the brunette said in reply as the two made their way out of Greg’s base.
(...)
Meanwhile, Downtown.
The Dragon of Kyushu, Lung, was pacing back and forth. Plumes of fire coming from his mouth as he exhaled heavily in an effort to control his mounting anger. “Explain it to me again, Kanrisha?” He demanded in his native tongue to a to a young slip of a girl with pale skin, her hair cut in a half-style bob being longer on the left with one long strand that was colored teal green. Her eyes were a luminescent purple. She wore a cropped white jacket with a black unitard with red accents over a pair of white shorts and high gray stockings, and black knee-high boots. Though she had a laptop open next to her, it was running through camera footage and files at rapid speed, even though she didn't touch it.
She was Lung’s Secret weapon, a Tech-Master who could control any machine within two-hundred meters of herself, but that range extended for every machine she hacked that had an open wifi connection… and his men were spread all throughout Brockton Bay. So Lung knew everything that was going on. Even when he wasn't there to know about it. Kanrisha was his eye in the sky.
“Yes, boss, from what I can figure, the kids we’re looking for are somewhere on the Boardwalk right now,” Kanrisha spoke in a monotone, like she always did, but Lung knew not to take it personally, for she did excellent work. “At your word, I'll initiate a blackout, allowing our people to capture them.”
“Wait,” He told her. “I'm going to go over there with Oni-Lee and Bakuda to oversee this, personally.”
“Would you like me to provide a distraction in the meantime?” She asked.
Lung grinned viciously behind his mask as he replied, “Good idea, Lucy. Do that. Have the PRT running around like a chicken with their head cut off! Will we show those little brats what happens when you steal from adults.”
Taking our eyes away from the computer screen for the first time since the conversation began, Lucyna, Kushinada replied. “I'm sure I can think of something to keep Armsmaster and his little kids busy.” As she said this, she started messing with the traffic lights around town. Just as Lung left to be teleported out with Oni-Lee and Bakuda, She called out, “Lung? Be careful. I've got a bad feeling about this contact. In my experience, when something is too good to be true, it usually is,”
You worry too much, Russian girl. With me on the scene, we're unstoppable!” Bakuda boasted! “My bombs will send anyone flying!”
“Shut up and get moving,” Lung ordered. “Will be fine, Kushinada. Don't worry. I'm the Dragon of Kyushu, remember? Nothing can kill me. Not even an Endbringer.” He reassured her right before he was teleported out of her sight. Yet this bad feeling she had in her gut, wouldn't go away.
(...)
Kayden sighed as she fussed over her daughter. Of all the places you could have picked to eat, why did you pick Fugly Bobs again?”
“I've always wanted to try the Challenger?” Theo replied as he wiped some sauce off of his chin, And made some goofy faces at his sister, causing her to giggle.
Kayden just looked at him and shook her head and amusement.“Where on earth you're putting a triple decker cheeseburger with everything on it and large fries is beyond me,”
“I'm a growing boy?” Theo replied as a question more than an answer.
“Yes, yes you are,” Kayden sighed before looking him in the eye and saying, “I'd like to apologize for not being the best mother recently. To you specifically Theo. I know I've always been a little distant with you, but… Well, I'm not your mother. I can't replace her. I can't be her. But I've always tried to do right by you. But I've always also had blatant favoritism towards my own daughter because, well, she is my flesh and blood. But you've always treated her like your own sister and I suppose I should at least show you the same courtesy you've shown her.”
“I get what you're trying to say, Mom, but you don't have to force it so hard, alright?” Theo said, interrupting her. For both their sakes. “Can we just try to get along a bit more and agree that both my dad, and Nazis, suck?”
“I'll can drink to that,” she said, smiling and raising her malt, while Theo clinked glasses with her. I'll give this place that the desserts are at least half decent.”
“And they've got tater tots for Aster.” Theo added after he took a sip of his drink.
“That too,” Anthea was thinking deeply about something? She asked, “Something on your mind?”
Clearing his throat awkwardly, Theo asked The question that had been on his mind for a while, “Yeah… It's just why that Greg Veder guy of anyone you could have hooked up with? I mean, he's my age, you know?”
We just kind of happened. I didn't go around looking for a young stud, but I'm not complaining about finding one either.” She replied, grinning a little bit.
Theo made a disgusted face while his sister giggled happily in the seat across from him,“Mom, eww, gross! I don't need details like that! Of course you'd find it funny, Aster.”
Kayden just shrugged, “Well, you asked,”
Theo grumbled under his breath, “I don't have to actually call him my stepdad, do I?”
Kayden scoffed. “Of course not! He's just trolling you. Isn't that obvious?”
Theo blinked owlishly before he said, “You know what the word trolling means? I'm impressed.”
“I used to be a gamer, remember? So yes, I'm very familiar with the lingo. And I'm not that old,” She finished, giving him a pointed look.
“Old enough to put a kid in the cradle and then turn around and rob another one at the same time.” Theo shot back, only for Kayden to throw a French fry at him, which he caught in his mouth.
“You're terrible. I want you to know this,”
“It's because of your boyfriend and he's rubbing off on me.”
Kayden’s retort was witty as it was sharp.“And here I didn't think Greg was into boys, seems I was wrong.”
“He's not- I'm not… And you say I'm terrible?” Her son deadpanned at her.
“There's nothing wrong with being gay, you know that, right Theo?” Kayden said.
“Yeah, except for the part where my father is a white supremacist gang leader.” Theo reminded her.
“Theo, are you actually-” Kaden began, only for the sound of gunfire to cut her off as it cut through the air. Her first instinct was to grab Aster and to get down on the ground.But she also grabbed Theo's hand and grabbed him under the table with her.
Kayden what's-?” Theo began only for her to hush him. She popped her head up to see what was going on, and noticed a hoard of Azn Bad Boyz taking over the street. Guns blazing and popping off up into the air. What really got her attention however, was Lung, half hulked out into a humanoid dragon, and already approaching nine feet tall.. Oni-Lee appeared and disappeared into smoke, along with someone else she didn't recognize. A woman, With a Ballistics vest, tricked out with all kinds of bombs, And a gas mask on her face.
‘This isn't good,’ Kaden thought to herself, As she worked with her instinct to protect the people outside.And to protect her children, be they surrogate or not, won out against her instincts as a would-be hero, and she stayed glued to the spot. For once, she found herself silently hoping that the PRT would arrive on time to take care of this mess.
(...)
Word Count: 10,100 Number of Pages: 22 8/22/2023
(...)
AN: Welcome everyone to the next chapter of Butchered Tech! Woohoo! Another one down folks! Yeah, I know, it's been a hot minute. But Starfield is coming out in T-minus nine days as of me writing this Author’s Note and I didn’t want to leave ya’ll hanging for the good Lord knows how long before I’m able to tear myself away from it. So here we are. Things they are a changin’ for Greg, for good and ill it seems. Ya’ll can debate on whether or not I did a good job in the reviews or comments section down below! Right now, I’m too hyped about Starfield to care. Also just so you guys know, just cause I’ll be preoccupied doesn’t mean you’ll be left in the lurch. I’ve got stuff pre-written to you hungry readers happy along with this update. Till next we meet my good people, this is Bubbajack handing the mic over to Snowy and First Hassan!
Snowy:
First Hassan:
Thanks again for reading! This has been an Inkblot Bros Production! Peace!
